Casualties of War
by curiosity-killed-the-cat-58
Summary: After the Zero Requiem the Knights of the Round were re-established, now the 'Defenders of the Peace'. For years there was no threat - until a band of rogue ninjas trespassed on UFN territory and murdered Lord Ashford. What does this mean for the future of the Hidden Villages and the UFN? Rated T for possible gore.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** So, here is my first attempt at a crossover! Before I let you guys go ahead and read it, though, you'll probably need some background info:

I've messed around with this a little bit and this is what I've decided: There are two main factions in the world after the Zero Requiem – the United Federation of Nations (UFN), and the Hidden Villages of the ninja. Basically, after the Zero Requiem knowledge of the Hidden Villages has increased throughout the UFN, and people are now aware of how powerful they are. There have been a series of incidents that have made things very tense between the two groups, and things have gotten so bad that there is a risk of open war. So this story is pretty much a clash of power.

Oh, and I've re-established the Knights of the Round as 'Defenders of the Peace.' They'll be featuring a lot in this story, along with the ninja from the Leaf Village that we all know and love! You have to bear with me through this chapter though, it's just an introduction to the plot.

This is what I've put together for the Knights

Knight of One – Gino Weinberg

Knight of Two – Kallen Kozuki

Knight of Three – Li Xingke

Knight of Four – Kyoshiro Tohdoh

Knight of Five – Anya Alstreim

Knight of Six – Nonette Enneagram

Anyway, enough blabbing from me, I hope you like the story :)

* * *

Chapter 1: Prelude to War

Tsunade sat in her office, staring contemplatively out the window. She had a small cup of sake in her hands, tactfully hiding it from view with her body.

"Lady Tsunade!"

She yelped, dropping the cup, turning to see a very irritated Shizune glaring at her with a sheaf of papers in her hands. She slammed them down onto the desk.

"You were supposed to be taking care of these!" she said.

"Give me a break, Shizune, I've had a long day," Tsunade sighed.

"It's nine in the morning!"

"You have a point."

Shizune looked like she had something to say, but she seemed hesitant. Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "What is it, Shizune?"

"You know how you wanted me to update you on anything to do with the Knights of the Round? Well, something's come up."

"Go on," she urged.

"There's been a murder. Lord Ruben Ashford was killed on UFN territory last night by a band of rogue ninja. The Knights have expressly denied ANBU access to the crime scene, and are heading the investigations on their own."

Tsunade swore colourfully. Tensions between the Hidden Villages and the Knights of the Round had been bad enough as it was, and this was just the thing that could make them declare open war. A member of the UFN dying at the hands of ninja – and worse, on their territory.

"This Lord Ashford, who was he to the Knights?" she asked.

"He was the headmaster of Ashford Academy. During the Black Rebellion, the school was used as a base of operations on more than one occasion. From what I've heard of him, he was a highly respected nobleman. And…" Shizune hesitated. "His granddaughter, Milly Ashford, is very close friends with Lady Kallen Kozuki, Knight of Two."

"Perfect," Tsunade muttered sarcastically. "We've managed to piss off the Knight of Two." She raised her voice. "Have they made any moves against us?"

"ANBU haven't noticed anything particularly suspicious. They've tightened security on their borders, but other than that, nothing's happening."

"Which means they're still deciding what to do. This could be very bad for us, Shizune. What have the other villages said?"

"Both the Raikage and Kazekage are preparing to defend their villages against attack. The Mizukage and Tsuchikage have not yet sent word to us, but they seem to fear the worst as well."

"We can't risk open war with the UFN. Shizune, send word out to the other Hidden Villages. We need to make a move before the Knights of the Round decide they don't want us around anymore."

…

Gino Weinberg, Knight of One, strode through the halls of the Tokyo Settlement, making his way to the main conference room. He passed several soldiers on the way, all of them skirting around him, sensing his foul mood. Reaching the conference room, he walked straight in and took his seat at the head of the table.

"You took your time getting here, Gino," Nonette said, sour as always.

"I got held up," he replied shortly.

Kaname Ohgi, Prime Minister of the United States of Japan, had cornered him on his way over, demanding to know what he was planning to do about the development in relations with the Hidden Villages. He put that conversation out of his mind, and focused on the scene in front of him. The re-established Knights of the Round sat in order of rank around the large table that lay in the centre of the room. So far, there were only six of them, but they were six of the deadliest fighters the UFN had to offer.

"Let's just get on with the meeting. I have to be back in China by this evening," Li said. He had been appointed the new Knight of Three, though it had been very hard to persuade him to take the role.

"Right," Gino agreed. "Let's get straight to the point then. I'm sure you've all heard of the murder of Lord Ashford." He was met with nods from around the table. "A small group of ninja fought their way through our borders and attacked him on our territory. They escaped before they could be apprehended, and currently we have no clue that could lead us to them. The Hidden Villages have all denied being responsible for this attack, saying it was a band of rogue ninja, but-"

"You think they were acting under orders from someone," Tohdoh, Knight of Four, interrupted.

Gino nodded. "Under normal circumstances, rogue ninja wouldn't dare to come close to our borders. They fear a military retaliation just as much as the Hidden Villages. Someone paid them off, from the villages or elsewhere."

"You want us to decide whether this merits going to war," Anya said matter-of-factly. She had been promoted to the Knight of Five after the Zero Requiem, and had expressed a strong interest in the activities concerning the ninjas.

"I don't think it is," Kallen spoke up. Gino was surprised at how calm she was. He'd seen how devastated Milly was at the news, and the two women were very close. "Think about it: they're just as threatened by us as we are by them. They've put a lot of effort into convincing us they want to avoid open war, and I doubt they'd throw that away by assassinating one of our people."

"But Ashford was the main objector to coexisting with the ninja. If they wanted anyone out of the way, it would be him," Nonette pointed out.

"Which makes it all the more suspicious that it was him that they killed. I agree with Kallen. This wasn't done by the villages. They're more tactical than this," said Li.

Anya agreed quietly.

Gino brought the attention back to him. "So we don't make a move against them. I say we tighten border control even more, and have scouts sent out every so often to keep an eye on the ninja. We wait for them to make their statement, but until then, no military retaliation is authorised, understood?" The Knights nodded. "Kallen, Anya, I want you both to remain here in Tokyo. You'll head all further communications with the villages."

…

Directly after the Ashford incident, Tsunade had sent out a message to each of the four Kage of the main Hidden Villages: the sand, the mist, the cloud and the rock. She had detailed her idea for a new S-Rank mission – each of the five villages would send out a jonin emissary to form a squad that would be sent out to the Tokyo Settlement. They would begin peace negotiations with the Knights of the Round.

The other Kage had agreed, and shortly after Tsunade found herself standing at the gates of the Leaf Village, watching Shibi Aburame – their representative – leave with four other jonin. In a matter of seconds, they had disappeared from her view.

"Good luck," she whispered after they had left.

…

The team of jonin arrived at the Tokyo Settlement, escorted by seven armed guards. Aburame understood why they were there, and none of the other ninja seemed to object to them either. He doubted they could even if they wanted to.

They were shown into an elegant room and invited to take a seat at the long table at the centre of the room. Shortly after, the door was opened wide and two Knights walked in, followed by a couple of scribes. They each took a seat on the opposite end of the table, leaving the scribes to sit against the far wall.

"Welcome to the Tokyo Settlement," the redhead spoke up, and Aburame couldn't help but notice how young they both were. "I am Kallen Kozuki, Knight of Two, and this is Anya Alstreim, Knight of Five."

Despite her age, she radiated a calm and confident aura, and Aburame immediately knew that she would make a deadly enemy. He could see straight through her relaxed posture, to the cold, calculating soldier beneath – he knew she had already assessed and made judgements on all the jonin present.

The smaller Knight – Lady Alstreim – spoke. "Before we begin, I just want to make it clear that we have no intention of fighting the Hidden Villages, and we'd like to avoid that at all costs."

The tension in the room suddenly broke, and the ninja around him visibly relaxed. Aburame looked at the small Knight curiously. She also had a deadly streak to her, but unlike Lady Kozuki, hers was hidden behind her placid appearance. Her quiet words were said in a monotone voice, but they held a strange power. They were exactly what the Lady Hokage had said they were – killers, albeit killers with a conscience.

The Rock Village jonin – Misaki – was the first to speak. "So do we. But I think we can all agree that there are several issues that need to be addressed before we start talking about coexisting in peace."

Lady Kozuki nodded. "First and foremost, let's get to the main issue at hand – Lord Ashford. We have decided to trust you when you say the Hidden Villages were not behind the murder, but the rogue ninja who are have been allowed to roam free in your territory."

"We have not been idly sitting by," Sanae – the short-tempered Mist jonin - said frostily. "Our ninja have been attempting to track down the ninja since the incident occurred."

"Which is the problem," Lady Kozuki countered. "The Prime Minister has made it clear that he wants to head the mission himself, as it was Japanese land on which Lord Ashford was killed. He has requested that you allow a team of his choosing to cross the border and pursue the rogue ninja so we can bring them back for questioning."

There was a silence as the jonin processed the information.

"Giving you free access to our lands is a major request, Lady Kozuki," Akio – the Cloud jonin – pointed out. "Even if we do agree to it, there will be many people who won't be happy with this."

"We understand that, but since the whole purpose of this meeting is to make changes to our current situation, I'd say it was a good first step, wouldn't you?" Lady Alstreim pointed out.

A couple of the ninja nodded almost imperceptibly, but remained unresponsive.

"Would our proposition be more acceptable to you if we allowed a team of ninja to accompany them?" the redhead asked.

Aburame looked around at his squad. They looked doubtful.

"Yes," he said finally, when no one else spoke. "We will allow this to happen, but the team you send will be under constant surveillance by our ninja. If they decide that any actions taken are suspicious, they will be authorised to detain your people for questioning."

Both Knights nodded in agreement. "And now we get to the peace agreements," Lady Alstreim said.

"All five of the main Hidden Villages have made it known that they are interested in forming an alliance with the UFN," Aburame explained. "The Hokage of the Leaf Village has taken charge of this endeavour, and she is willing to meet with you in person to discuss the details."

"But before that can happen, we need to know that this alliance is something you would be interested in," Misaki said.

The Knights shared a quick glance. "An alliance is a good move to make," Lady Kozuki said. "It will definitely be of great benefit to both sides, but there are some issues with the idea."

"Aren't there always?" Sanae said. She addressed Lady Alstreim. "Like you said, we need to make a change, and that's never going to happen unless we take risks."

"Fine," Lady Kozuki said. "I think we have achieved what we came here to do. The Knights of the Round will meet with the five Kage of your villages, and hopefully we will be able to form an alliance and put an end to all of this tension."

Aburame opened his mouth to agree, but a low rumbling cut him off. It got increasingly louder and long, jagged cracks appeared in the walls. They spread across the ceiling, and the Knights sprang to their feet, weapons ready. The ninja did the same – just as the ceiling crashed down on top of them.

Lady Alstreim and Lady Kozuki were both faced with the worst of the rubble, and as they dodged the falling debris, black-clad figures surrounded them. Lady Alstreim was attacked by three of them at once, and she fell to the floor, disappearing from his view under a pile of stone. Lady Kozuki had a blade in her hand, flashing menacingly as she managed to take down two of her attackers before she was taken down from behind.

Before Aburame could move to help her, several masked ninja came down through the gaping hole. Without hesitating, they cut through Misaki viciously, moving swiftly on to attack his other teammates. He raised his arms, and a stream of his kikaichū bugs flew out of his sleeves, forming a barrier between the oncoming ninja and his squad.

Unfortunately for him, that left him exposed to any attack. Quick as a flash, one ninja came up behind him, dragging a kunai knife through his back. The ninja jumped away as Aburame fell to his knees in shock, but before he could use his kikaichū, another took his place. Aburame felt a hand clamp around his neck and lift him up into the air. He struggled to breathe, spots dancing across his vision as he tried in vain to see who his attacker was. The ninja holding him grinned – and plunged a kunai into his stomach. Aburame gagged, blood drenching the floor beneath him. He was thrown hard against the wall, and managed to stagger forwards a few steps before collapsing to the ground.

The last thing he saw before he blacked out was fire blazing in the hands of the masked ninja, burning through his squad.

* * *

**A/N:** Feel free to ask any questions you have about the crossover, and let me know if there are any massive plotholes I need to fix :) I promise this will get more interesting when I get to the main storyline - which will probably be around chapter 3. Anyway, review and let me know what you think so far!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** This chapter's also quite introductory, but I promise the next one will be more interesting. Also, I just want to thank all of you who have followed or favourited this story so far - special mention to SomeDamn Author for being my first reviewer! :D

* * *

Chapter 2: The Mission

"_What did you just say_?!" Tsunade demanded.

"The squad that left for Tokyo…they were all killed, Lady Hokage." Genma said.

Tsunade fell back into her seat. "How did this happen?"

"We're not sure. The only information we have is what the Knights of the Round told us."

"Brilliant." She muttered. "And what did they have to say?"

"They insist that they were not the ones behind the attack. According to them, their headquarters were attacked by an unknown enemy. They forced their way through the roof of the building, and then used a combination of ninjutsu and taijutsu to cut through the jonin. Unfortunately, the Knights were not able to discover the identities of these attackers before they were crushed by the rubble." Genma explained.

"Of course they weren't." She said dryly. "And how many of them were killed?"

"None, Lady Hokage."

She gave him a piercing look. "_None_? Any injuries?"

"The Knights of Two and Five received minor injuries, but they were out of hospital a few hours after being admitted."

Her mind was racing. Could this be retaliation for the death of Lord Ashford? If both Knights survived, it could have been a staged incident. There was no way a military base as powerful as the Tokyo Settlement could be broken into so easily… could there?

"Lady Tsunade?" Shizune said. "Do you think this was done on purpose?"

She was silent for a moment. "No. Not by the Knights, anyway. They're an elite military organisation, and this… this is sloppy."

Shizune nodded. "Then what are we going to do?"

"We're not going to try and make contact with them for now. I think they may have a spy in the Settlement. We can't risk it."

"The other villages aren't happy, Lady Hokage. They're demanding to attack the UFN for this." Genma said.

"Those fools. We can't go up against the UFN and win, not without wiping out the majority of our forces."

"Shall I send word to them?" Shizune asked.

"No, not just yet. I need to think this over," she replied. "Genma. What do you think about this?"

"Me? I agree with you, Lady Hokage. It doesn't make sense for the Knights to attack a group of jonin during peace negotiations. If I were them, I would wait to meet with the village leaders. Like you said, this is sloppy, and the Knights are killers, yes, but intelligent killers."

"Something else is going on here. Someone is working behind the scenes to try and start a war between the UFN and the ninja." Tsunade said.

"If so, then so far they don't seem to have though this through. Their attempts so far have been very transparent," Shizune pointed out.

"Don't underestimate your enemy. Think about it: these murders, although both sides know that there is something definitely suspicious about them, have been enough to raise the war alert to maximum level. Given how bad things were already, something like this is all that's needed. Let's face it, we'd feel a lot safer without the Knights around, and they'd feel a lot safer if we weren't around. Right now, either side is able to call this an act of war."

"What are you going to do?" Genma asked.

She drummed her fingers on the table, thinking over her next move very carefully. She was probably going to regret doing this, but –

"Call all available ninja here. Now."

…

Kallen winced as she stood up on her injured leg. A medical assistant rushed forward to help her, but she waved him away irritably. She was furious – furious with herself for letting her guard down so easily, and furious with everyone else for letting the Settlement get infiltrated.

"What the hell happened?" she demanded. "How did they get through our defences so easily?"

"We're still looking into it." Gino looked as frustrated as she felt. His usual friendly demeanour was all but gone, replaced with a cold anger.

"We have a spy," Anya stated simply.

"This place is on lockdown. Wherever the spies are, we'll get them before the day is over," Kallen said with certainty.

Gino raised an eyebrow. "Spies?"

"There has to be more than one. To get in here without raising the alarm, you'd need at least three people on the inside. Two to disable the alarms – one in the main Control Room and the other taking care of the separate alarm system for the entrance they used. Since both of them would be too far away from the entrance itself, a third would be needed to open the door to let the rest in," Kallen explained.

"So they disabled the alarms, got in, and re-activated them immediately before the backup systems could be activated," Gino continued, nodding. "But what about the cameras?"

"I sent a team to check that out. Apparently the entirety of our CCTV systems had been destroyed. The way they did it wasn't as subtle as the rest of the operation, so it's safe to assume that they were running out of time," Anya added.

"If they managed to get around so easily, they've obviously managed to steal the identities of some of our officers," Gino said. "Damn it all, how are we going to catch them without alerting the whole HQ?"

Kallen opened her mouth to reply, but she was cut off.

"Someone's just entered the Armoury," Anya said suddenly, looking down at her phone.

"I think we've just found our guys, Gino," said Kallen, grabbing her weapons from the table in front of her.

Gino grinned and stood up, making his way towards the door.

"Let's go catch those bastards."

…

Naruto's eyes widened. "What?"

Genma sighed in frustration._ Third time's the charm._ "The Lady Hokage has ordered you to report to her immediately. This matter is of utmost secrecy, and from this point onwards you are not to communicate with anyone other than your squad members."

"Huh?"

"Your squad. Hokage's tower."

"Seriously?"

Genma resisted the urge to throttle the boy. "Seriously."

"Are you su-"

Thankfully, Sakura intervened. "We'll be there. We just need to get Kakashi-sensei."

He nodded, and turned away from them before Naruto could ask another question.

…

Naruto opened the door to the Hokage's office and walked in slowly, followed by Sakura and Kakashi. To his surprise, several other ninja were already there, seemingly waiting for them.

He looked around the room. Ten-Ten, Lee and Neji were standing in front of the Hokage's desk, Ino and Kiba directly behind them. Gai-sensei stood by the door, a grim expression on his face.

"So…what's this about?" he asked nervously.

Tsunade didn't answer for a moment, simply looking over the team she had before her. "I have a mission for you."

Naruto grinned. "Yeah! Where to, Grandma?"

Her expression didn't change in the slightest as she looked at him, and sensing her mood, he toned down his enthusiasm. "You're going to infiltrate the Tokyo Settlement."

Shocked silence followed. Gai's expression tightened as he watched his squad, whereas Kakashi's face remained impassive behind his mask. Evidently both jonin had been told about this mission beforehand, and neither seemed too happy about it.

"What's our goal?" Sakura asked.

"Firstly, let me make it clear to you that this is an S-rank mission. There is a very high possibility that you will not survive this mission, so if you do not wish to take part, you may leave now."

Naruto's mouth was wide open. Sure, he'd always wanted to go on an S-rank mission, but something like this… He'd heard plenty of stories about the UFN, about its power, but that wasn't what was making him nervous. It was common knowledge that the Tokyo Settlement was the main base of the Knights of Round in Japan. And the stories he'd heard about _them_…

The Hokage waited patiently behind her desk, looking at each and every one of them in turn. When no-one moved, she continued. "Alright then. I know that Neji's team has already been briefed by Gai about this, so I'll keep it short." She turned towards Naruto. "I'm assuming you know about the Knights of the Round?"

Naruto nodded.

"Recently, a member of the UFN was murdered by a band of rogue ninja. In response, we sent a team of jonin to the Tokyo Settlement, one from each Hidden Village. They were there to negotiate terms of a peace treaty, but were murdered within the headquarters before signing off on anything. Both Knights present managed to survive with minor injuries. They insist they were not the ones behind the murders, but there is no proof to convince us of that so far."

Naruto saw his shocked expression mirrored on the faces of Sakura, Ino and Kiba. "So you want us to get you proof?" he asked.

She nodded. "I know I'm asking a lot here, but it's something that needs to be done. I have to know what's really going on here, and I can't trust the word of the Knights for the moment."

"But why us?" Ino said.

"You're the only available ninja for the mission. And since you're all jonin and chunin level, I know you'll be able to handle yourselves out there. You've done well in past missions, and I'm sure that if anyone has a chance of making it out alive, you will."

"Our squad is in," Neji said confidently.

"So are the rest of us," Kiba said, after a quick confirmation from the others.

Naruto couldn't help but feel nervous, a feeling so strong it was almost enough to overpower his growing excitement. This was the most dangerous mission he had ever been on, and he was determined to make it a success.

The Hokage looked at the new squad, conflicting emotions moving across her face. "Kurenai had the details of the mission. Since she's highly skilled in infiltration, she'll be the one to prepare and train you over the next couple of days. Good luck."

…

After a short briefing of the structure of the Settlement by Kurenai-sensei, she had led them into the Archives, pulling out various files and documents, tossing them down onto a small table. The new squad sat around the table, beginning to sift through the papers.

Naruto opened up a thick black file. It was split into sections, the first of which was a collection of six fact-files, each paired with a picture.

"What's this?" he asked in bewilderment.

"That is a detailed account of each of the Knights of the Round. It's everything we know about them, so I suggest you look through those carefully," Kurenai said.

"Why are there only six? I thought they were a group of twelve," Kiba pointed out.

"There used to be twelve," began Sakura. "But that was before the Zero Requiem. The original Knights are all dead, bar one or two. The ones that we're up against are relatively new – the group was re-established as 'Defenders of the Peace'. Remember how in the past there were all sorts of wars and conflicts between countries outside our borders? Well these are the people who put an end to it all, the people who helped bring about world peace."

"That didn't really last very long," Ino muttered.

"In the stories, they're all heroes," Sakura shrugged, a hint of admiration in her tone.

"Then why are they pinned here as 'major threats'?" Ten-Ten pointed out.

"I don't know," she replied reluctantly.

"Keep reading," Kurenai said, bringing them back on topic.

Neji picked up a document at random and read. "'All six of the Knights have been trained to see through genjutsu, and are highly proficient at taijutsu amongst various other fighting techniques. If encountered, do not engage without a full briefing of their skills. If you come across the Knights of One or Two, avoid combat at all costs.'"

"Woah, so this is serious then? We're actually going to go up against these guys?" Kiba said.

Kurenai nodded solemnly. "Remember, if they were ninja, they'd all be at jonin level, and that's without any ninjutsu or genjutsu."

"So, what do we do now?" Naruto asked.

She took a deep breath. "I've gone through everything you'll need to know for the mission. Now, you leave for the Tokyo Settlement."

* * *

**A/N:** Review and let me know what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Chasing Shadows

Naruto stood with his team under the cover of a bridge as they looked up at the Tokyo Settlement.

It was a huge white building, surrounded by a wide expanse of water. At regular intervals around the main base, there were several towers, again each separated by water from the rest of the city. It was in every way a stronghold, seemingly impossible to break into. That is, apart from the gaping hole in the roof.

It was near enough on the edge of the Settlement, various Knightmare Frames in the process of re-building it. _Perfect_, Naruto thought dryly. That would make it even harder for them to get in.

He turned back to his squad. Sakura was making a series of hand signs, using her new genjutsu skills to conceal them from view. She had been the one that Kurenai-sensei had tutored in the art of genjutsu, and had seemed to have a natural talent for it.

"How are we going to get in?" he asked.

Ino glared at him. "We went over this with Kurenai-sensei before we came, Naruto! Were you not paying attention at all?"

He grinned sheepishly, as Neji – their squad leader – began the explanation.

"Every entrance to the Settlement is rigged with its own private alarm system, which means that even if we manage to disable the main systems, we still won't be able to get in. That's why we're going to enter through the area that has already been damaged."

"What, the one with all the Knightmare Frames patrolling?" Naruto asked sceptically.

"Exactly," Ino said. "Our plan won't work unless there are soldiers around. My jutsu will be useless without them. And, in case you hadn't noticed, there aren't any guards anywhere else."

It was true: the rest of the Settlement was completely unguarded. It didn't have to be. With the water, the perimeter created by the towers, and the CCTV footage of the surrounding area, it was near impossible to get into it unnoticed.

"Ok, so we get Ino to use her jutsu. What then? We can't exactly waltz in there," he challenged.

"Let us take care of that part, Naruto. We only have a very small window to do this in, and we're running out of time. They're going to go for a break in about five minutes," Ten-Ten said.

Naruto nodded, and on Neji's signal, they moved around to where the Knightmare Frames and soldiers monitored the area. Sakura's genjutsu kept them hidden, but they still kept to the shadows of the towers in case a Knight of the Round was nearby.

"Ino," Neji said quietly. "Do it now."

…

Gino stood on one side of the Armoury doors, Kallen on the other. She held a gun in her hands, a dagger strapped to her waist.

"You ready?" he asked, knowing the answer.

"Oh, yeah," she replied. "They're going to rue the day they messed with us."

He grinned, and flung open the door. They sprinted in, guns aimed and ready to fire.

There was nothing there.

"_Genjutsu,_" Kallen hissed. She moved off to the right, looking down the rows and rows of weapons.

He nodded and concentrated, sharpening his mind as he'd been trained to do – seeing what could not be seen. The scene before him flickered, a new one replacing it. The orderly rows of weapons vanished, replaced by a scene of complete wreckage. Weapons were strewn haphazardly along the floor, the shelves that held them all but destroyed. Bodies of soldiers littered the floor, blood seeping out from their lifeless bodies in pools around them. Kallen knelt down to check the pulse of one and shook her head, moving on.

Gino heard a sound behind him and he spun around, holding his gun out in front of him. Nothing was there.

He slowly walked in the direction of the sound, turning the corner of the wide armoury. He looked to his left – and found himself staring into the red eyes of an intruder. He immediately responded by sending a bullet right at his chest.

The bullet passed through nothing but the air. He blinked, looking wildly in every direction, searching for the man that he was sure he'd seen.

Then he heard a scream, loud and terrified. He turned and sprinted back to where he had last seen Kallen, heart pounding in his chest.

She wasn't there.

He ran on, moving deeper into the Armoury. The scream rang out again, loud and clear from his right. Gino made his way towards it, fighting the growing sense of uneasiness he was feeling.

He couldn't see anything. Then something wet dropped onto his face. He wiped at it, and was shocked to find his hand come away red. He stepped back, and another drop of blood fell into the pool on the floor he didn't realise he was standing in. Slowly, he looked up, dreading what he would see.

Kallen was strung up in the air, a noose tight around her slender neck. She had a brutal gash on her forehead, the source of the blood that was still dripping down on the floor. Her body was slowly rotating in the air, features frozen in a shocked expression.

Gino wanted nothing more than to get her down from there, but every instinct he had was screaming out at him that something was seriously wrong.

Then it clicked. Kallen would _never_ scream out like that. She was a soldier, through and through. She'd fight until the very end, never allowing her opponent the satisfaction of seeing her afraid.

And just like that, his mind flooded with a sudden clarity. Ignoring the scene in front of him that he now knew to be fake, he looked around him suspiciously. He felt a small rush of air at his elbow and he moved his arm out to catch it. His hand closed around something solid, and the air flickered once more to reveal that he had pinned the intruder to the wall by his neck. Red eyes widened fractionally in an otherwise impassive face, and Gino allowed himself a moment's satisfaction.

As the illusion vanished, he noticed the silver headband glinting on the man's forehead, and his eyes narrowed. A ninja. He heard Kallen's voice behind him.

"Gino!"

…

Naruto watched carefully as Ino used her Mind Body Switch Jutsu, holding her arms out in front of her and aiming at one of the officers standing guard. As she left her body and crumpled to the ground, Naruto looked back at the officer she was aiming at. He blinked a couple of times, the only sign that the jutsu had worked.

The officer looked at the communications device on his wrist, and his eyes lit up. He spoke into it, pretending to be receiving a message from the other end. Then he nodded, and lowered his arm back to the side. He barked out a few orders at the soldier nearby, and they put down what they were working on and left obediently.

Neji gave the signal for the squad to move forward, and took the lead as they made their way to the officer that Ino had control of. The officer took out a key card from his pocket and handed it to Neji.

"You're quite the actor, huh?" Ten-Ten grinned.

Ino returned to her body and smiled, the officer falling to the ground.

"Quickly! We're running out of time!" Neji urged, and they ran to the entrance. Neji swiped the key card through the lock, and it flashed green. But, instead of the door opening, a small panel appeared requesting a four-digit code to be entered.

Kiba cursed. Ten-Ten looked at her watch nervously. "We're too late!"

Sure enough, Naruto could see another group of soldiers making their way towards them, presumably to take over from the ones that Ino told to leave. Looking at Neji, he could see that the jonin had not planned for this to happen so soon. He decided to take centre stage and, desperately trying to remember the picture Kurenai-sensei showed to him, he used a shadow clone and transformation jutsu. Just as the soldiers arrived, Sakura extended her genjutsu to hide the officer as well.

"Lord Weinberg!" a soldier gasped, recognising him immediately.

Naruto sighed in relief – he had gotten it right after all. Then he realised he had no idea what to say to them, and his relief vanished. "Uh…"

"It's William, sir," he said, taking Naruto's hesitation as confusion.

"Ah, yes, of course! Um… I just came here to check up on your progress with the repair work!"

The soldier looked confused, his expression mirrored on the faces of his team. "We weren't expecting an inspection, Lord Weinberg."

_Damn it…_ He laughed half-heartedly. "Which is exactly why I came!"

If possible, the soldier looked even more confused, and Naruto mentally berated himself.

"Well, anyway, it seems as if you've got a good handle on this, so I'm going to leave now. Keep up the good work," Naruto walked towards the entrance, not quite knowing what he was going to do when he got there.

William elbowed a woman next to him, and she jumped, running forward to the door. "Let me get that for you, my Lord."

She entered the code into the door and opened it for him. Naruto gave her a genuinely grateful smile, and she blushed, running back to stand with the rest of her team. He lingered at the doorway a second longer than was necessary until he was sure that Neji and the others had gotten through, before stepping into the Tokyo Settlement and closing the door behind him.

…

Kallen crept through the eerily silent Armoury, stepping carefully to avoid the broken bodies of soldiers on the floor. She could hear Gino's footsteps moving in the opposite direction. The Armoury was a massive chamber, but she was certain that they'd be able to catch their culprit before long.

She maneuvered around the battered remains of a rack of weapons, and her eyes widened.

Hanging on the wall was Nonette, nails driven brutally through her hands. Her neck was slit open in a wide red smile, dried blood caking the front of her usually pristine uniform. But that wasn't what caught Kallen's attention. Her stomach had a long, jagged line across it, as if someone had crudely sawed through her skin with a blunt weapon. Her guts had been taken out of her body, and they were arranged on the floor in a gruesome pattern. Her blue eyes were wide open, frozen in shock.

Kallen tried not to gag as she looked at her best friend's lifeless body, holding her hand over her mouth. She turned away from the sight, dimly registering the echoing gunshot she heard from Gino's direction. Forcing herself to calm down, her eyes hardened once more. Her top priority right now was the intruder, and she was _not_ going to let him get away.

She stepped forward – and heard a click by her feet. She looked down and saw that she had walked straight through a tripwire. Cursing herself, she moved away from it as quickly as possible. A rush of air behind her alerted her to the presence of a kunai knife, and she managed to dodge it just before it impaled itself in her neck.

Unfortunately, she stepped forward to do so, triggering the release of several other kunai knives, all coming at her from different directions. She whipped out her two daggers, using them to deflect the kunai before they hit her. They clattered to the floor uselessly.

Then she heard the sound of a lighter coming from behind her. She spun around carefully, only to see paper bombs plastered to the wall by Nonette's body. She didn't have time to think about how they got there – she was sure they weren't there when she first noticed Nonette – because the bombs exploded. She was splattered with blood, a raging ball of fire engulfing her.

Then it suddenly vanished.

Kallen staggered back, hands wiping at the blood on her face. They came away clean. Startled, she looked at the wall that had just exploded, only to find it still intact. Then she noticed Gino through her peripheral vision. He had pinned a man in a black cloak to the wall, presumably the man behind the genjutsu.

Suddenly, she saw movement behind Gino. An identical figure in a black cloak was creeping up behind him, a kunai knife in his hands.

"Gino!" she shouted out in warning.

He looked up at her, expression a mixture of relief and surprise, still unaware of the man behind him. Left with no other choice, she threw one of her daggers with a deadly precision. It caught the assassin in the chest, and he fell to the floor, eyes wide. As the body fell to the floor, it disintegrated into black crows.

_Substitution jutsu_. She frowned, just as the man Gino was holding disappeared in a similar way. He looked at her questioningly and she shrugged. Then she felt a disturbance in the air behind her. She whirled around to see the red eyed man standing there. He raised two fingers to his mouth, and she could see red flames flickering in his throat. Her eyes widened, and she ducked just as a huge burst of fire cut through the air towards her.

She got up – and then stopped moving, barely daring to breath. Dozens of paper bombs surrounded her, trapping her in a circle. The intruder began making hand signs, signs she instantly recognised. He was going to detonate the paper bombs. Her hand instinctively went to her gun, and she pulled it out of her belt. Without hesitating, she aimed it at his forehead and pulled the trigger.

…

Naruto leant against the wall of the small corridor, sighing in relief. He checked to see if the coast was clear before signalling to Sakura that it was ok to release her genjutsu. His team re-appeared before him, all looking similarly relieved.

Sakura smiled. "That was _amazing_, Naruto!"

Even Kiba looked impressed. "Yeah, who would have thought you'd be the one to save us?"

He grinned, and then noticed the officer lying at their feet. "So what are we going to do with him? We can't just leave him here, he'll raise the alarm."

Lee knelt down and took off his comms. "At least he will not be able to communicate with anyone now."

Neji nodded. "We'll tie him up and Sakura can use her genjutsu to hide him temporarily. By the time it wears off, we'll be long gone."

Naruto couldn't help but feel excited. "Am I the only one who's noticed that we've actually managed to infiltrate the _Tokyo Settlement_?"

Kiba grinned. "Yeah, but don't get too excited. Our mission's far from over."

"So where do we go now?" Ten-Ten asked. "We have no idea where to find the information we're looking for, if it even exists."

"Kurenai told us where to begin our search," Neji began. "Each Knight has their own offices within the Settlement to use when they're here, and that's where we'll go."

Sakura stood up. "Done! We'd better leave now, we can't stay in one place for too long."

…

Kallen was still on her knees on the cold floor, gun held limply in her hands. She was staring horrified at the body in front of her.

It was Cécile Croomy.

Gino was equally shocked. He had seen Kallen take the shot, seen the bullet lodge itself in the intruder's forehead. But then, as he fell, his face had changed, morphing into Cécile's delicate features.

"But…it was…"

He moved over to Kallen and put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly. He could see her eyes flickering between Cécile's body and the wall behind her. He followed her gaze, seeing nothing but the smooth white walls of the Armoury. It was obviously bothering her, but he couldn't figure out why.

"You couldn't have known that it was her, Kallen. You can't blame yourself," he said softly.

She opened her mouth to reply, just as Cécile coughed and spluttered weakly. Kallen rushed forward, pulling Cécile's head into her lap.

"She's still alive! Gino, call the medics, _now_!"

Cécile looked up at Kallen through half-closed eyes, and choked out a couple of words before going limp once more.

"Thank... you…"

Both Knights looked down at her in silence. Then Kallen got to her feet, eyes blazing angrily.

"We're going to find him, Gino. And when we do, I'm going to kill him."

Without another word, she turned and stalked out of the Armoury, leaving him to call the medical team.

* * *

**A/N:** Please review and let me know what you think! I know people are reading this story, and it would mean a lot if you left a comment :)


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Exposed

Kallen had never felt as frustrated as she was walking through the corridors of the Tokyo Settlement. She had completely fallen for the intruders' trick, and it had resulted in the death of an innocent woman.

She could feel her nails digging into her palms. Cécile had been aware of everything she was doing during that fight. Whatever that jutsu was, it left her completely unable to control her actions but she could still feel the pain from their attacks.

_No wonder she thanked me when it was over…_

She would have to be the one to tell Cécile's family and friends what had happened. She was determined not to give them the news through the standard letter the military sent home.

Suddenly, she froze, looking in bewilderment at the scene before her. The walls of the corridor had been smashed through, as if someone had been forcefully thrown from the adjoining room. She carefully picked her way through the rubble and entered the damaged room. Everything had been destroyed, and it seemed as if several small explosives had been set off. A forensic team was already there, carefully sealing everything that could be used as evidence in small airtight bags.

The comms on her wrist flashed with an incoming call, and she raised it to eye level. Anya's face appeared on the small screen.

"Kallen, we've caught one of the intruders. He's down in the holding cells right now."

"So he was the one who did this?" She indicated the room around her.

Anya nodded. "He was very… explosive."

"I can see that."

"Oh, Kallen? He's refusing to speak to anyone. Says he'll talk to you and only you."

Kallen frowned. "Right. I'll be down soon."

With that she turned off the comms, trying to sort through the tangled mess of questions in her head.

…

Naruto kept close to his team as they made their way silently through the Tokyo Settlement. Sakura had placed a genjutsu on them that hid them from view, but if they ran into one of the Knights they'd be done for. His mind wandered back to what Neji had said.

_"There were two Knights present at the meeting," Ten-Ten began. "Which one are we going to investigate?"_

_"Lady Alstreim is a lot less deadly than Lady Kozuki. I vote we start with her - we'll have a better chance of staying alive." Ino said. _

_Lee shook his head. "The information we are looking for is highly classified. If we are to find it anywhere, it will be with Lady Kozuki. She is the higher ranking Knight, so it stands to reason that she will possess anything relating to the incident."_

_"Lee's right," Neji agreed. "We need to make our way there. Her offices are on the far side of the Settlement. Remember that the Knights of One, Two, Five and Six are still here, and we cannot afford to run into one of them. If we do, this whole mission is done for."_

Naruto could feel a nervous energy building up in his muscles. He would've preferred a fight, that way he had an element of control over whether he lived or died. This was drastically different – if he stepped out of line once, that would be it. He and his whole team would be thrown into a cell somewhere in this huge base, and they'd probably all be killed.

Akamaru's low growling snapped him out of his thoughts, and he looked at Kiba quizzically.

"We've got company, guys. Straight up ahead."

Neji nodded and lead them to the nearest door. After checking if it was safe with his Byakugan, he indicated that they should hide there. Naruto looked at the oncoming Knight through the small gap between the door and the wall, barely daring to breath.

A tall, pale-green haired woman came into view, talking to someone on a small screen on her wrist. She was tailed by a couple of soldiers, both holding documents that she was blatantly ignoring. As she came closer, Naruto noted the crisp white uniform and coloured cloak that marked her as a Knight of the Round.

"…We can't let this go on, Gino! You know that better than any of us!"

Neji raised six fingers, and fear appeared on the faces of his comrades. Nonette Enneagram, Knight of Six, was in front of them. Naruto felt a chill go through him. She was the lowest ranking Knight, yet he could feel the considerable power that she radiated. He didn't trust himself to move. If she truly was as good as he had been told, one slight twitch would be enough to get them caught.

"And we can't let it slide either. Like I said, we don't make a move until we're sure it's the right one." Gino's voice filtered through.

"Gino," she said firmly. "Someone is trying to frame us, and right now it's working. We can't just cut off communications with the ninja, it'll make things worse. If they knew what was going on here-"

"If we told them what was going on here, they'd know that we're vulnerable right now. That's not something we're going to broadcast."

"Is it true, then? Did Kallen really shoot Cécile?"

Naruto frowned. _What's going on here?_

Gino paused. "Yes. We were attacked in the Armoury. The intruder was using a powerful visual jutsu, and he tricked us into thinking that the person we were attacking was him. The jutsu wore only wore off after Kallen shot him in the head."

"Anya was also attacked. She managed to capture him though. Apparently he's refusing to talk to anyone but Kallen."

"I know. I'm going down there to keep an eye on things. I'll keep you updated."

Naruto couldn't hear what else was said, as Lady Enneagram had moved out of earshot.

"A powerful visual jutsu?" Ino asked.

"Itachi Uchiha." Neji clarified.

"So these intruders must be the Akatsuki. Why would they be here?" Sakura said.

"I don't know, but right now that's none of our concern. We have our mission, and that's our only focus." Neji said.

"But if the Akatsuki are attacking them, doesn't it mean they're not our enemies?" Naruto asked.

"We don't know what the Akatsuki are planning yet. We have no idea what their motives are, so we can't assume the UFN are allies because they're being attacked by our enemies." Ten-Ten pointed out.

"Coming across Lady Enneagram has made one thing clear at least. We can't keep using genjutsu to stay hidden. We need to blend in," Sakura said. "All of us can use a transformation jutsu. I say we disguise ourselves and move on from there."

"Fine. But we have to hurry. From what we've just heard, three of the Knights are with the prisoner. That's including Lady Kozuki, which means her offices are empty for the moment," Neji said.

…

Gino watched the prisoner warily. He was wearing a black cloak similar to the man he'd fought earlier, with a silver ninja headband partially concealed behind a long blonde fringe. Kallen stood in front of the cell, Anya close by her.

"So I hear that my man Itachi messed with your head quite badly, _Lady _Kozuki." He was saying mockingly.

"Itachi? As in Itachi Uchiha?" Kallen asked.

"So I see you've heard of him. Personally, I've never really liked him, but his methods are very… effective. Tell me, how did it feel killing that girl?"

Kallen ignored him. "What were you planning to do here? Are you the one behind Lord Ashford's death?"

"A bullet to the head, right? At least it was a quick death, but by no means painless. Have you told the girl's family? Will you be able to deal with the hatred in their eyes when they look at you?"

"Deidara, was it? If you're trying to get a reaction out of me, it won't work. Just answer the question."

"Oh, but it _is_ working. You're trying to hide it but it's written all over your face. You want to kill me, don't you? Just like you killed Cécile Croomy. Do you want to know something? I was the one that captured her. You should have heard her scream, Kallen-"

"Shut up," Gino snapped, before Kallen could react. It was clear that Deidara only wanted to speak with Kallen so he could goad her, and Gino was not about to let that happen. "The fact is we don't need your cooperation. You've told us your name, and that you're working with Itachi Uchiha. That's enough information for us to start investigating with."

"Ah, yes. Those little files of yours. I wonder how the ninja would react if they knew you've got information on them all?" Deidara grinned when Gino made no answer. "Anyway, you'll never find anything of use on me."

"You sound very sure of yourself." Kallen said.

"And you seem very sure that there are only two of us in the Settlement."

…

Naruto and Sakura walked through the long corridors in a strained silence, neither of them daring to speak in case they caught the attention of one of the passing soldiers. After they had used a transformation jutsu, Neji had made them split up and travel in small groups to avoid attracting unwanted attention.

Sakura nudged his arm and nodded down to the left. They turned, and found themselves in a small corridor, the end of which had a set of large doors. Upon closer inspection, Naruto saw that it required a key card to open. He looked at Sakura desperately, but she seemed as clueless as he was.

He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see two soldiers making their way towards them. He fought to quell the growing panic rising up inside him, but then relaxed when he realised it was Kiba and Ino.

"What's wrong?" Kiba asked.

"The door. We can't get through." Sakura said.

"We'll have to break in," Ino said. "There's no other choice. If we hang around here for much longer we'll be noticed."

Naruto nodded and smashed the panel as quietly as possible. The doors slid open and they went inside quickly, shutting it behind them. They were faced with a large room, at the end of which a desk was placed. Everything was perfectly ordered, from the stacks of papers on the desk to the long filing cabinets that lined the walls.

"There are two other rooms," Sakura said.

"How are we supposed to know what to look for?" Kiba asked.

Naruto shrugged as Neji, Lee and Ten-Ten came into the room. "I guess we'd better just start searching."

…

Kallen, Gino and Anya sat together in the room next to Deidara's cell. Nonette came in a short while after, and Gino saw Kallen look her over carefully. She seemed almost relieved to see Nonette there. He really wanted to know what Kallen had seen in the Armoury, but he knew she'd never tell him.

"So how'd the interrogation go?" Nonette asked.

"We only got his name, and he mentioned something about the 'Akatsuki', whatever that is." Gino told her.

"Not well, then." Nonette said sympathetically, pulling up a chair to sit with them.

"It was useless," Kallen grumbled.

"So how do we know that there aren't more of them here?" Anya asked.

"Well, Itachi was never really here to begin with. He was just controlling Cécile to do what he wanted. And Deidara wasn't as unhelpful as he was trying to be. During the interrogation, he implied that the Akatsuki generally carry out their missions in pairs, so I doubt there are more of them here," Gino explained.

"Just in case, though, I've set some soldiers to carry out a full sweep of the Settlement," Kallen added.

"So if Itachi didn't come here in his real body, how do we know that's really Deidara we've got there?" Nonette asked.

"We don't get fooled by the same trick twice," Kallen said. "That's really him. What's not clear is why he came here in his real body if Itachi didn't."

"He wanted to get captured," Anya said. "When we were fighting, I got the sense that he was holding back. I don't know what their plan is, but so far I get the sense that things are going in their favour right now."

"If that's the case, then we shouldn't leave him here." Nonette said.

"And take him where?" Gino countered. "We'll just have to keep an eye on him."

Kallen stood up. "I'm going back to my office. If we're going to get anywhere with this case, we'll need to do some research. I don't know why, but I have the strangest feeling I've heard about this 'Akatsuki' somewhere before."

…

"Found anything yet?" Lee asked.

"Nothing," Naruto replied, throwing the file he was holding back down onto the desk in frustration. They had been searching for about ten minutes now with no success, knowing that they could be caught at any minute.

"We can't give up," Sakura said. "If there's evidence here that the Knights are innocent, then we can avoid a war."

"But what if there's nothing to find?" Kiba asked.

"We'll come to that if it happens. Right now, we have to focus on looking." Neji said.

"There's a lot of classified information here," Ino said nervously. "If we're caught, we're done for."

Naruto swallowed hard and kept looking. He couldn't shake the feeling that they should leave this place. He heard a soft sliding sound come from the main office and cautiously peered around the corner to look at the entrance. There was nobody there. He frowned and went back to the document that he was looking at.

Suddenly, a dark shadow dropped down on them and the gleam of a gun flashed behind Neji. It pressed against the back of his head, and the jonin gritted his teeth in anger.

"And what exactly are you all doing here?"

* * *

**A/N:** Thank you to everyone who has favorited or followed so far :) As always, please review!


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